House Ethics to Formally Investigate Andrews, Don Young

Andrews is alleged to have used money from his re-election campaign to pay for a family trip to Scotland.

The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday announced that it has formed investigative subcommittees to probe whether Reps. Robert E. Andrews, D-N.J., and Don Young, R-Alaska, violated rules by allegedly misusing campaign funds and making false statements.

The committee began reviewing some of Young’s travel expenses in the 111th Congress and later received a referral from the Department of Justice related to the trips in question. Federal investigators examined Young’s role in directing $10 million to a Florida road project that benefited one of his campaign donors. Though Young was not ultimately charged in the case, the F.B.I. released documents that showed the Alaska lawmaker used re-election funds for hunting trips, charter flights and other personal expenses, according to a New York Times report.

Young previously faced ethics scrutiny for donations made to his legal defense fund from a dozen corporations owned and operated by the same group of related individuals. The committee concluded in late 2011 that Young had not violated any law, rule or regulation by accepting the donations but revised the wording of the rules governing legal trusts so such related contributions could not be accepted going forward.

“Congressman Young has cooperated with the committee and will continue to do so,” spokesman Mike Anderson said in an email.

Andrews is alleged to have used money from his re-election campaign and a leadership PAC to pay for a family trip to Scotland, to fly his daughter to Los Angeles and to pay for her high school graduation party. The committee has been reviewing the case since April, after receiving the matter from the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.

The OCE reported released in August of last year focused on a trip that Andrews took with his wife and two daughters to attend a wedding in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by a visit to London. The wedding was for an individual whom Andrews met while working on a presidential campaign in 2003. Though at the time of the wedding the two had not interacted professionally in any capacity for several years, the Andrews for Congress or the Committee to Strengthen America campaign accounts either directly paid for or were later used to reimburse the cost of four business class tickets that totaled about $16,000, a hotel bill of more than $7,000 at the five-star luxury resort The Balmoral, nearly $500 for a wedding gift and more than $2,500 in “petty cash” for various expenses in the United Kingdom.